Property values

To learn that property values in Nelson have increased by 36.6 percent and land values by nearly 50 percent is news that most ratepayers will not want to hear.

That was the Quotable Value “snapshot figure “as at 1 September and that increase today will likely be more. There are three aspects to consider.

Firstly we all know that in a competitive housing market supply and demand will be the driving force. That will never change . Secondly we all know that this artificial assessment of improved property value, where no actual property inspection takes place, is in reality of no real benefit to anyone but the real estate industry who use these computer generated values as a tool to ratchet up and justify sales prices. Thirdly we also know that because of increased land value our rates will in all but a small percentage of cases go up. In summary as a result of what has become a crazy and out of control property market, most home owners through no fault of their own will be faced with another cost that many can ill afford. It is time for a new rates assessment process to be considered that is not based on increasing land values but rather on the actual cost of the services that Council provides. Determining rates using an age old system based land values is no longer a credible or fair method.

Neville Male, Stoke, November 16